Tolerance as a decoration: what's wrong with Klava Koka's new video

The new clip by Klava Koka "Gossip.Noise.Onion" looks like a neatly built world in which "everyone has found a place". Gays, homophobes, conditional conservatives and the same conditional "free" people exist in the same frame – without conflict, without pain, without consequences. On the screen, this is presented as a gesture of reconciliation and universal love. But this is where the main question arises: what exactly are we being asked to accept – reality or its imitation?

Personal recognition effect

The first thing this video does is that it hits memory. At the first viewing, I was instantly returned to the gay clubs of St. Petersburg and Moscow in the late 2010s and early 2020s. It was a feeling of bodily freedom, not a declaration.

And it is on this effect that the video plays especially strongly. It reproduces the picture "as before", creates the feeling that this state is still possible – here and now, in modern Russia. Not as a memory, not as a lost era, but as an actual reality.

The illusion of "everything is fine"

The clip leaves the feeling that in modern Russia the issue of homophobia, if not resolved, then at least smoothed out. The camera does not dwell on fear, shame, repression, violence — on what still defines the daily experience of LGBTQ+ people in the Russian Federation. Instead, the viewer is offered a convenient picture: you can be different, you can dislike each other, but still be "together".

The problem is that in real life, this "together" does not work. Homophobia is not an abstract opinion, but a social and state mechanism. He punishes, pushes out, erases. And when a video puts a gay man and a homophobe on the same aesthetic plane, it actually equates the victim and the aggressor.

"All Together" as a Concept Detached from Reality

The idea of gathering about 60 very different public figures in one video deserves a separate discussion. At the level of the idea, it can really look bold and impressive. But in the Russian context, such a move ceases to be neutral.

When queer characters and artists openly associated with homophobic rhetoric and a repressive agenda are next to each other in the same frame, this is no longer about dialogue. This is about normalizing the incompatible. About a situation where a homophobe and a gay man are presented as equal elements of the same show, without indicating that in reality one of them is in a position of threat, and the other is in a position of vulnerability.

This is especially jarring to the eye if you remember that Klava Koka herself has already worked with queer people before, for example, in a video with the participation of Andrey Petrov (now Milana Petrova). This shows that she did not "not know" and did not "not understand". The more noticeable is her current silence and rejection of any position.

When reconciliation becomes devaluation

Pop culture often chooses the language of universality — it sells better, it is safer. But in the context of Russia, such universality sounds false. The call "let's just accept each other" works only where the parties have an equal position and equal risks. In the Russian reality, risks are fundamentally unequal.

By uniting homophobes and gays in one narrative without a clear moral framework, the video erases the asymmetry of power. He does not ask the question: why are some forced to hide, leave, remain silent, while others are not?

Aesthetics instead of responsibility

Visually, the clip is built flawlessly: style, light, editing. But it is this polished aesthetic that enhances the feeling of substitution. The viewer, especially the external one, can easily conclude: "So everything is not so bad." And this is the most dangerous effect.

As long as repressive laws are in force in Russia, as long as the word "LGBT" is equated with a threat, such clips work not as support, but as a soothing for the conscience of both artists and the audience.

What I would like instead

It's not that a pop artist has to become a radical activist. It's about honesty. About the recognition of the conflict, and not its masking. About not creating a sense of harmony where there is none.

Klava Koka's new video is an example of how inclusivity can turn into a decoration. Beautiful, comfortable, but empty. And in the context of the Russian gay community, it is important to talk about this directly: the appearance of acceptance is not equal to acceptance.